Nollywood in the Diaspora: an Exploratory Study on Transnational Aesthetics
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Universiteit Gent Academiejaar 2009-2010 Nollywood in the Diaspora: An exploratory study on transnational aesthetics Sophie Samyn Master Kunstwetenschappen Masterproef Vakgroep Kunst-, Muziek- en Theaterwetenschap, optie Theaterwetenschap (Podium- en Mediale Kunsten) Promotor: Prof. Dr. Christel Stalpaert Co-promotor: Dr. Karel Arnaut i CONTENT Preface 1 Acknowledgments 2 1. INTRODUCTION 3 1.1 Introduction 3 1.2 Methodology 4 1.2.1 Research purpose and method 4 1.2.1.1 Research purpose, relevance and structure 4 1.2.1.2 Research subjects 5 1.2.1.3 Research method 8 1.2.1.4 Source-criticism 8 1.2.2 Theoretical frame 9 1.3 Empirical context 14 1.3.1 Nollywood 14 1.3.1.1 Cinematographic production 14 1.3.1.2 Film consumption: Cinema, TV and the home video 15 1.3.1.3 Nigerian home video 16 a. Development of the industry 16 b. Production: making film with minimal budgets 17 c. Distribution: a never seen spread on the continent 19 d. Content and form: African film made by Africans 22 e. Transnational dimension of Nollywood 25 1.3.2 Nigerian Diaspora 27 1.3.2.1 Pre-colonial migration 27 a. Hausa migration 27 b. Religious migration 28 c. Slave trade 28 1.3.2.2 Nigerian migration in 20th – 21st century 28 a. Context 28 b. Prostitution 30 c. Bad reputation 31 d. Causes of migration 32 e. Diasporic communities 34 ii f. Nollywood in the diaspora 36 2. CASE STUDIES: Nollywood made in Europe 39 2.1 Transnational subjects 40 2.1.1 Pioneers: Tony Akinyemi and Leonard Ajayi-Odhekiran 40 2.1.2 The show must go on: Isaac izoya 43 2.1.3 Spiritual and social outreach: John Osas Omoregie 46 2.1.4 Satire: Azubuike Erinugha 48 2.2 Nature of the transnational practice 52 2.2.1 Aim 52 2.2.1.1 Celebrate Nigerian contemporary culture 52 2.2.1.2 Inform and educate the people 53 2.2.1.3 Promote integration 55 2.2.2 Film 56 2.2.2.1 Nollywood 57 2.2.2.2 Realism vs. the supernatural 58 2.2.2.3 Portraying the immigrant experience: drama vs. comedy 60 2.2.2.4 Life in the diaspora 64 a. Crime 66 b. Personal experience 67 2.2.3 Projects 69 2.2.3.1 Nigerian Entertainment: European tours 69 2.2.3.2 Khamileon 71 2.2.3.3 Social and religious outreach 72 2.3 Publics and scales 75 2.3.1 Nigeria 75 2.3.2 Europe 79 2.3.2.1 The Netherlands 79 2.3.2.2 Germany 81 2.3.3 The diaspora 84 2.3.4 The City 87 2.3.5 Christianity 89 iii 2.4 Transnational aesthetics: Nollywood made abroad 91 2.4.1 Visual style 91 2.4.2 Setting 92 2.4.3 Transnational spaces 94 2.4.4 Performance art 96 3. CONCLUSION 99 Videography 102 References 103 Appendix I A. Interview Tony Akinyemi & Leonard Ajayi-Odhekiran II B. Interview Azubuike Erinugha XVII C. Interview Isaac Izoya XXVII D. Interview John Omoregie XXXIX E. Film covers XLIX iv PREFACE African film has always interested me. I have been working as a volunteer for the past seven years at the Cinema Novo festival in Bruges. This ‘Third World’ cinema festival shows films from Asia, South-America and Africa, although the African contribution has always been a little scarce. I learned about Nollywood, however, only two years ago when I was on holiday in Uganda. Wherever I came in that country, in hotels, in restaurants, at people’s homes, I noticed people watching ‘Nigerian movies’. Some were huge fans, others loathed the films but nevertheless, everyone was watching them. The success of these Nigerian-made films fascinated me enormously and I have grown to be quite an admirer. I admit it took me some time to get used to the specific Nollywood style, but I now regularly watch them. For my Bachelor paper last year, I decided to focus on Nollywood and I wrote my paper with the title ‘Kan de home video een alternatief bieden voor eigen filmcultuur in Afrika? Case studie: Nollywood’ While working on that paper I saw the documentary NOLLYWOOD ABROAD by Saartje Geerts. The documentary is a personal portrait of John Osas Omoregie, a Nigerian immigrant making Nollywood films in Antwerp. I wondered if he was the only one. After some research I knew I had found myself a subject for my master thesis. 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis wouldn’t have been possible without the help of some people I would like to thank. First and foremost, I would like to thank the protagonists of this thesis: John Osas Omoregie, Isaac Izoya, Tony A.B. Akinyemi, Leonard Ajayi-odhekiran and Azubuike Erinugha who were very cooperative and made this thesis possible. I would like to thank Saartje Geerts. Her documentary NOLLYWOOD ABROAD gave me the inspiration to write this thesis. Furthermore, I would like to thank my promoter prof. dr. Christel Stalpaert and co-promoter dr. Karel Arnaut for keeping me focused and helping me find some structure in my research. Thank you to many of the speakers of the Nollywood conference in Mainz: Jonathan Haynes, Heike Becker, Adedayo Abah, Claudia Hoffmann and Francoise Ugochukwu for sending me their unpublished articles. Thank you to Alessandro Jedlowski for sharing his experiences with me. Thanks to Hilde Misseeuw to let me stay at her house in the countryside, surrounded by donkeys and chickens, to write this thesis. I would also like to thank Trui, Guido and papa for rereading and correcting my thesis. Lastly, I would like to thank my friends and family for putting up with me, especially towards the end. A special thank you to Hannes, mama and papa, Emma, Charlotte, Amy, Barbara and Suzanne. 2 4. INTRODUCTION 4.1 Introduction The Nigerian home video industry, more commonly known as Nollywood, emerged locally in the early nineties. It has now grown to be the second biggest producing film industry in the world, releasing no less than 1500 films a year. The films are very popular and rapidly reached an audience far beyond Nigerian borders, all over Africa and the diaspora. Nigerians are a very mobile people and constitute the majority of the African diaspora in Europe. Every year thousands of Nigerians make the journey overseas to try their luck in Europe. In the last 10 years the Nigerian diaspora worldwide has been gradually integrated in the Nollywood industry. It has become quite popular to partly shoot films abroad, often in collaboration with western-based Nigerians. Nigerians living in the diaspora, who don’t want to miss out on the success of this blooming industry, have equally taken up the initiative themselves to produce their own films. Having migrated to the West and experiencing life in the diaspora, they feel the urge to tell their stories. Nollywood is a commercial film industry and, because of cheap digital technology and video, has made it possible for many Nigerians to express themselves. Even immigrants are now able to have a voice through film. Tony A.B. Akinyemi and Leonard Ajayi-Odhekiran, Isaac Izoya, John Osas Omoregie and Azubuike Erinugha are five of these dispersed Nollywood filmmakers, living in western Europe, more specifically in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. For them Nollywood has become a means of communication that crosses boundaries. Not only do they write/direct/produce films, they also feel it as their special mission to bring Europe and Africa a little closer, through various ‘cultural and social projects’. The practice of the five protagonists, three individuals and one partnership, will be placed within the frame work of transnationalism and diasporic film making. 3 4.2 Methodology: 4.2.1 Research purpose and method 4.2.1.1 Research purpose, relevance and structure The purpose of this Master thesis is, firstly, to ‘map’ or describe the Nollywood filmmaking scene in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. Particular attention will be given to their individual diasporic situation and the other cultural and social projects they are involved with. Departing from the frame of transnational film, I will try to unravel the different transnational dimensions that are present in the work of these individuals. In different chapters the following questions will be asked: To what extent are the filmmakers themselves transnational subjects? What is the nature and purpose of their work? What transnational publics and scales do they integrate in their media projects? What is the nature of the transnational aesthetics present in their films? In this thesis I intend to bring into picture the multiple publics and spaces that are involved in the transnational practices of five Nollywood filmmakers, living in western-Europe, on the levels of production, distribution, content and aesthetics. I will thereby examine how these protagonists negotiate the various cultural and national boundaries they cross. I will argue that the transnational nature of their work exists in the integration of the local reality of their immediate diasporic lives in the tradition of Nollywood. Nollywood has a preoccupation with local realities, and I will look at how these are translated differently by the protagonists, in their films as well as in their other projects. Central is the immigrant experience which seems to entail the constant dichotomy between life abroad and life in Nigeria. I will try to answer following subquestions throughout the thesis: What is diasporic about the work of these individuals? How is Nigeria present in their practices? How are these protagonists and their practices inscribed in the Nollywood tradition? Finally, with this thesis I argue for a transnational understanding of Nollywood filmmaking in general.